Desegregation Hits A Court Snag

August 25, 1986

The long battle over desegregation in Chicago`s public schools is supposedly over, settled in 1982 by a consent decree that approved a voluntary agreement between the U.S. Justice Department and the Chicago Board of Education. But the fight over the desegregation peace still goes on.

The U.S. Court of Appeals has just overturned a lower court order requiring the federal government to provide the schools $88 milllion over five years to help pay for desegregation programs. The case now goes back to district court where a judge is to try to get the federal government and the school board to negotiate a settlement. If that fails, the consent decree could be tossed out and the whole desegregation issue would then be back in court.

The appeals court did acknowledge that the federal government has an obligation to provide some financial help for the desegregation plan. That has been clear all along. The issue is how much. What the school board wants would cover only a small fraction of what it has had to pay for the desegregation programs the federal government has required. The money involved is infinitesimal by federal spending standards.

It is inexcusable that this silly charade continues to take up the expensive time of lawyers and courts. The best the federal government can hope to do is reduce the settlement somewhat, not wriggle out of it entirely. It would make much more sense for the government just to live up to its obligation and simply pay the $88 million. Then, after a quarter of a century, the legal battles over desegregation in the Chicago schools finally would be over.